The power of Christianity

How did Christianity change this culture?

- Before Christianity influenced the Sawis, the natives in New Guinea had a dominant culture of head-hunting and treachery, making them live constantly in fear. They had to toil everyday for survival, as men and women both were in search for food everyday, occasionally feasting on people “captured” from other tribes. Many customs were dissimilar from ours, such as the concepts of the Peace Child, waness, or gefam ason. Especially, the Peace Child is quite different because many people today in civilized countries take peace as an everyday situation, whereas the Sawis have to live alert everyday, aware of the possible attack or deceit of other tribes.
When Don Richardson brought Christianity to the region, the culture significantly changed, as many tribes including the Sawi embraced Christianity and its encouragement of peace. The Peace Child concept was no longer necessary as before, because Jesus became the eternal Peace Child who settled all conflicts between the tribes. The culture was not only influenced in terms of religion; Richardson and his co-workers brought many tools that helped the Sawi work more easily, such as the axe. Medication, primarily provided by Richardson’s wife Carol, helped cure many diseases that plagued the people for years. Another significant change in the culture was in architecture. Richardson engaged in a large-scale project building a giant “Sawidome” for the church building. Although it was the only building attempted to follow a semi-modern structure, it set the trend of establishing many more buildings like it, since it was much more larger and stronger than a regular Sawi treehouse.
Don Richardson, by bringing Christianity to the Sawis, helped change the culture of the people slightly more modern and make them prepare for the near intervention of the Indonesian government in their habitats. Most importantly, the people had a lot less reason to live in fear.